If fracking is the cause, it would be a first in the United States. Earthquakes in British
Columbia and England have been linked to fracking, a process in which millions of gallons of water,
sand and chemicals are pumped deep into the ground to shatter shale and free trapped oil and
gas.

There are hundreds of active fracking wells in Ohio and thousands across the nation.

From January 2011 to February 2012, researchers recorded more than 100 earthquakes there that
eventually were linked to the pumping of fracking waste deep underground into an injection well in
the Youngstown area.

In January 2012, the state halted the disposal of fracking waste in injection wells within a
5-mile radius of the Youngstown well. At first, the state said there was no connection between the
injection well and the temblors.

During the fracking process, some of the fluids bubble back up with the gas. Oil and gas wells
also produce saltwater contaminated with metals and radioactive materials trapped underground for
millions of years.

That waste often is injected into deep wells. At the time of the Youngstown earthquakes, there
were 177 active waste-injection wells. Now, there are more than 188, and more are being drilled
across eastern Ohio.

This week, newspapers, TV stations, blogs and other media from Los Angeles to New York are
covering the earthquakes and the possible link to fracking.

ODNR officials have said this week’s quakes are not related to any injection wells — the closest
active well is 14 miles away.

But Arthur McGarr, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist leading a national study of earthquakes
and injection wells, said long-term disposal can cause temblors as far as 15 miles away. Even
closed wells could cause earthquakes, he said.

He said additional seismic equipment should be set up in the area to determine whether fracking,
injection wells or natural shifts along fault lines caused the recent quakes.

“A local seismic network would go a long way,” McGarr said.

Michael Hansen, network coordinator for the state’s Ohio Earthquake Information Center, said the
current network — 74 seismometers across Ohio and 13 in Mahoning County — is not enough to
determine fracking’s role. “We can’t determine that from our stations,” he said.

McGarr said localized equipment would provide earthquake depth information, which would help
determine whether a quake was caused by a fracking well. Hansen said the current equipment cannot
do that but added that the state might place portable monitors near the epicenters.

Natural Resources is gathering seismic data from Texas-based Hilcorp Energy, the fracking
operator closest to this week’s earthquakes, to see if there was a cause and effect, agency
spokesman Mark Bruce said.

After an injection well was tied to the 2011 Youngstown-area earthquakes, the state began to
monitor seismic information at every well before, during and after waste was pumped below
ground.

That is not the case for fracking wells.

A connection between fracking and earthquakes would be “a San Francisco-size shocker for this
industry,” said Jack Shaner, deputy director of the Ohio Environmental Council, an advocacy group. “
The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

Will Drabold is a fellow in Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News
Bureau.